Alhambra Unified School District faces child molestation lawsuit

A minor and her guardian, Yolanda Romera have filed a civil lawsuit against Alhambra Unified School District for failing to properly hire, train or supervise teacher Jose Jesus Mosqueda who is accused of molesting a young girl who has been diagnosed with mild mental retardation according to court documents. The incident happened at Repetto Elementary School in Monterey Park that was photographed Wednesday, March 12, 2014.(Photo by Walt Mancini/Pasadena Star-News)

ALHAMBRA >> The mother of a girl with mild mental retardation has filed a lawsuit alleging a special education teacher in the Alhambra Unified School District molested the girl.Jose Jesus Mosqueda, a former teacher at Repetto Elementary School in Monterey Park, is in jail and faces felony charges for the alleged sexual abuse of three girls, all of whom were not yet 14 when the alleged incidents occurred.The civil lawsuit alleges AUSD knew or should have known that Mosqueda, 44, has a tendency to sexually abuse minors and that he had inappropriate contact with children on school property before the incident occurred.

“The district has to be more diligent in terms of who it hires, how it supervises and how it follows through in its processes,” attorney Vincent Ammirato said. “They should have special rules for a teacher to be alone with a student, especially a special education student.”The Monterey Park Police Department arrested Mosqueda in December 2011. He faces eight felony counts, including oral copulation or sexual penetration with a child under 10, lewd act upon a child and continuous sexual abuse. He will appear for a pretrial hearing in Alhambra Courthouse at 8:30 a.m. Monday.

Superintendent Laura Tellez-Gagliano said the district performed all state-mandated background checks before hiring Mosqueda. He passed FBI and U.S. Department of Justice fingerprinting screenings, and the district called his references, including prior employers, Tellez-Gagliano said.Already this year two AUSD employees were arrested on suspicion of child molestation. Andrea Michelle Cardosa, assistant principal at Alhambra High School, resigned on Jan. 17 after a YouTube video went viral. In the video of a phone conversation, a woman identified as Cardosa admitted to having an inappropriate relationship with a minor in a different district. On Feb. 28, Jeffrey Yoshitake, a math teacher at Garfield Elementary School, was arrested on suspicion of maintaining a seven-year sexual relationship with a former student.

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Tellez-Gagliano said the district is concerned because it has had two alleged child molestation situations in the past few months. Mosqueda is on compulsory leave, meaning the district will give him back pay for time spent in prison if he is cleared of criminal charges.“It saddens us,” Tellez-Gagliano said.In October 2011, mother Yolanda Romero told Mosqueda and other staff she wanted her daughter to repeat the fourth grade because the child wasn’t progressing in reading and writing. Mosqueda said holding the child back wasn’t a good idea and offered private tutoring on campus after school, according to court documents.

Tutoring lasted from Oct. 11-26, 2011, according to records. Ammirato said the mentoring happened behind closed doors and alleges that Mosqueda was following school policy.